Visiting Picasso: The Notebooks and Letters of Roland Penrose

Drawn from the private notebooks and correspondence of Roland Penrose, an intriguing firsthand account of the life and personality of Pablo Picasso.

Published here for the first time, these lively writings bring to life with a rare vividness the work, ideas, and milieu of Roland Penrose's friend—and the subject of his much-acclaimed 1958 biography—Pablo Picasso.

What makes the notebooks and correspondence so important is also what makes them so exhilarating and fresh. They are not reconstructions after the event, filtered through memory or rephrased with an eye to literary style. The immediacy of the jottings gives the reader the uncanny sensation of actually being present during Penrose's frequent encounters with Picasso and his circle—at home with the artist, at bullfights, at the beach, in the studio.

The book is filled with anecdotes, incidents, sharp details, and actual conversations that are unconstrained by deference, objectivity, or the need for discretion. Confidential, off-the-record remarks made by the artist's family, associates, and former lovers are all here, as are Penrose's own candid observations of Picasso's behavior. Fascinating descriptions of Picasso at work afford rare insights into the making of his masterpieces, including Guernica and other great works up to the time of his death.

Some sixty photographs—mostly taken by Penrose or his wife, Lee Miller—show the colorful cast of characters, from Gary Cooper to Françoise Gilot, from Alfred Barr to Dora Maar, as well as the events and art described, and add to the record of a remarkable relationship. 60 illustrations.

Elizabeth Cowling was co-curator of the blockbuster exhibition Matisse Picasso (Tate Modern, Grand Palais, Museum of Modern Art). Her publications include Picasso: Sculptor/Painter with John Golding and Picasso: Style and Meaning.